title: Predictors of abortion counseling receipt and helpfulness in the United States.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about women's expectations, needs, and experiences with abortion counseling and the factors that influence their experiences.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study sought to investigate individual- and facility-level factors that influenced women's reports of receiving abortion counseling and the helpfulness of counseling. Data were drawn from quantitative interviews with 718 patients recruited from 30 abortion facilities, and 27 interviews with facility informants in the United States.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-eight percent of participants reported receiving counseling; reports varied by facility. Almost all participants who reported receiving counseling described counseling as helpful: 40% extremely, 28% quite, 17% moderately, 10% a little, and 4% not at all. Nearly all (99%) reported that their counselor communicated support for whatever decision they made. No individual-level factors predicted counseling receipt or helpfulness. Facility informant reports that it is their role to counsel patients about emotional issues was positively associated with women's reports of counseling receipt (p < .001). Women at facilities subject to laws requiring provision of specific information and/or state-approved, written materials had lesser odds of finding counseling helpful, compared with women at facilities not subject to such laws (p < .01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Legal mandates that regulate abortion counseling do not seem to be helpful to women. More research is needed to understand the effects of abortion counseling and whether policies regulating counseling have a deleterious effect on women.
authors.affiliation: Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) Program, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA. gouldh@obgyn.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gould
authors.forename: Diana Greene
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Alissa C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Perrucci
authors.forename: Rana E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Barar
authors.forename: Sarah C M
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003376:Counseling; D003657:Decision Making; D005193:Family Planning Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010298:Parity; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult